Ultimate Nightmare

Morning sunlight filtered through the slats of the blinds, scattering mottled patches across the pristine white hospital bed.

Gu Yue opened her eyes. Her first sensation was hunger; the second was that the sharp stabbing pain in her lower abdomen seemed to have eased somewhat after a night of rest and medication, turning into a persistent, irritating bloated ache.

"You're awake?" Tang Wulin's voice came from beside the bed. He was holding a breakfast tray, and the steaming soup dumplings and golden millet porridge gave off an enticing aroma. "Eat while it's hot. The doctor said you'll get your IV after breakfast."

Gu Yue struggled into a sitting position. The hangover and last night's ordeal had left her weak, but the temptation of food overcame everything. She silently took the bowl of porridge and sipped it bit by bit. Her stomach warmed, and her mood settled slightly as well. Fine. Considering he'd gone out early in the morning to buy breakfast, she would let him off for now.

After breakfast, the nurse came in on schedule to start the first day's IV drip. Anti-inflammatories, painkillers, fluids... several bags of medicine lined up in a row. Seeing the gleaming needle in the nurse's hand, Gu Yue instinctively pulled her hand back.

"Um... Nurse," Gu Yue asked weakly, "could you be a little gentler? I'm afraid of pain."

"Don't worry, the nurse is very skilled," Tang Wulin chimed in from the side, earning a glare from Gu Yue.

The nurse was quick and efficient—disinfecting, inserting the needle, securing it—all in one smooth motion. Still, Gu Yue felt a distinct sting in her wrist and couldn't help sucking in a sharp breath. Tears welled up at the corners of her eyes again.

"There, there. Don't cry." Tang Wulin hurriedly handed her a tissue, taking the chance to squeeze the hand that wasn't hooked up to the IV.

To avoid being pricked every day, Gu Yue followed the doctor's advice and had an IV catheter inserted into the back of her hand. That made the infusions over the next few days much more convenient, though there was now a little raised "bun" on the back of her hand that she had to be especially careful around whenever she moved.

By the time two bags of anti-inflammatory medicine had gone in, it was nearly noon. Gu Yue was leaning against her pillow, bickering intermittently with Tang Wulin, when someone knocked on the ward door.

"Miss Gu, please get ready. We'll be inserting an indwelling urinary catheter now." The nurse pushed in a treatment cart, its upper shelf holding a set of unnerving medical instruments.

It was here! The final judgment!

Gu Yue's face flushed bright red. All the shame accumulated from last night exploded at once. She whipped her head toward Tang Wulin, murderous intent blazing in her eyes.

"You!" Gu Yue pointed a trembling finger toward the door. "Get out! Leave! Right now! This instant!"

Tang Wulin's smile froze. "Honey, I..."

"Stop talking! Get out!" Gu Yue practically roared, her voice cracking from agitation.

Tang Wulin opened his mouth, but when he met Gu Yue's eyes—which clearly said, If you don't leave, I'll take you down with me—he wisely chose to compromise. "All right, all right, I'm leaving. I'll go get some air. Call me if you need anything!"

Only after watching Tang Wulin get "escorted" out of the room while repeatedly looking back did Gu Yue relax a little. She took a deep breath, lay flat in resignation, and let the nurse perform a series of blush-inducing procedures, including shaving and disinfection.

She couldn't wear pants anymore. A thin medical sheet covered her lower body, but Gu Yue felt as if that layer of cloth might as well not exist. When the cold lubricant touched her skin and the foreign sensation became unmistakable, she bit down hard on her lip, turned her face aside, and stiffened like a stone. Throughout the entire process, her mind was blank. Her only thought was: Hurry up and end. Hurry up and end. I'd rather die.

At last, the nurse secured the tube and connected it to the urine collection bag hanging beside the bed. That transparent plastic container, with its clearly marked measurements, was like a badge of shame, mercilessly announcing Gu Yue's current embarrassment.

"All right, Miss Gu, try to relax. Remember to empty the urine bag promptly and keep track of the output. Press the call button anytime if you feel unwell." After explaining the precautions, the nurse left.

The ward returned to silence, leaving only the faint ticking sounds of the equipment. Gu Yue lay motionless, feeling like a patient doll whose dignity had been hollowed out.

After a while, the door cautiously opened a crack, and Tang Wulin's head poked in. "Honey? Is it over? Can I come in now?"

Gu Yue gave an irritated snort, which counted as permission.

Tang Wulin tiptoed into the room, his gaze inevitably falling on the urine container hanging beside the bed. His eyes wandered between the transparent tube and the bag, and the corners of his mouth rose uncontrollably. Though he desperately tried to suppress it, that gleeful amusement still spilled from his eyes.

"What are you looking at?!" Gu Yue raised the hand without the IV as if she were about to pinch him. "Keep looking and I'll gouge your eyes out!"

Tang Wulin quickly raised both hands in surrender, but he still couldn't resist commenting, "That... is quite a unique design, huh? It even has measurement markings."

"Tang Wulin!" Gu Yue was so angry she wanted to kick him, but her legs were covered by the blanket, and she could only move her ankle futilely.

Just then, the attending doctor entered carrying a chart for a routine post-procedure check. She looked at the drainage in the urine bag, then checked Gu Yue's abdominal condition.

"Miss Gu, after the catheter is inserted, you may feel some discomfort, or feel that it has shifted slightly." As she wrote in the chart, the doctor spoke in her characteristic, utterly even tone. "If you feel uncomfortable, or if the drainage is obstructed, a family member can help adjust its position to ensure the balloon remains in the bladder and is securely fixed."

Boom—!

Gu Yue felt a bolt of lightning explode in her mind. Let Tang Wulin... help adjust the catheter's position?! And he had to "help"?! This had already surpassed the limits of what she could comprehend! It was even more humiliating than the catheter itself! Her face instantly reddened enough to drip blood, and even the tips of her ears burned.

"D-Doctor!" Gu Yue's voice trembled. "N-No need! I can do it myself!"

The doctor pushed up her glasses and calmly glanced at her. "It isn't very convenient for you to do it yourself, and sterile procedure requirements... Well, if you don't trust a family member, you can call a nurse."

"No need to call a nurse!" Gu Yue practically shrieked, then collapsed weakly back against her pillow. In a voice as faint as a mosquito's buzz, she said, "...Let him do it."

Tang Wulin had been holding in his laughter so hard that his shoulders were shaking. He leaned close to Gu Yue and lowered his voice, his tone loaded with teasing. "Honey~ Do you need me to 'adjust' it for you? I'd be happy to help~"

"Get out!" Gu Yue grabbed a pillow and this time actually threw it, smacking it squarely into Tang Wulin's face. "Get out right now! You are never allowed to mention this again! Mention it again and I'll divorce you!"

"Don't be like that, honey!" Tang Wulin caught the pillow and grinned as he leaned even closer. He even boldly glanced at where the urine bag connected—though he was only putting on an act. "The doctor said your family should help~ Look, isn't the catheter a little crooked? Do you need me to straighten it out?"

Gu Yue closed her eyes in despair, feeling that all hope had vanished from her life.

Not only did she have to endure pain and the humiliation of being catheterized, she also had to endure the heartless teasing of this oversized canine creature beside her. This life was truly unbearable!

"Tang Wulin, I'm warning you," Gu Yue forced the words through clenched teeth. "Once this tube comes out, the first person I'll strangle is you."

"All right, all right, strangle me. Strangle me as hard as you want." Tang Wulin took her hand and placed it against his own neck, gesturing with it. "But before you strangle me, how about eating first? I ordered takeout—shrimp dumplings, your favorite."

Gu Yue said, "...I don't have an appetite right now."

"How can you not eat? How will you have the strength to strangle me?" Tang Wulin spouted nonsense with a perfectly serious expression, skillfully opening the takeout container and placing the fragrant shrimp dumplings before Gu Yue.

Perhaps the food was simply too tempting, or perhaps she was truly exhausted after the whole morning's ordeal. In the end, Gu Yue surrendered to the shrimp dumplings. She ate in small bites while continuing to glare murderously at Tang Wulin, already plotting how, after being discharged, she would make Tang Wulin drink a bowl of that leftover "hangover soup" too—and preferably the undiluted kind.

As for the urine container hanging beside the bed, and the doctor's shocking words about a "family member helping adjust it"... Gu Yue decided that from this moment on, she would seal away that memory completely. On the day she was discharged, she would max out Tang Wulin's credit card along with it, as compensation for emotional damages!

Tang Wulin watched her eat shrimp dumplings with puffed-up cheeks, and his heart melted into a mess. The process had been a little awkward, and his wife currently wanted nothing more than to skin him alive, but at least she looked much better than she had last night, curled into a ball from the pain.

Well, the catheter and all that—although his wife was mortified—somehow... he found it a little cute? Of course, he could never say that in front of Gu Yue, even if it killed him.